Tony Gilroy no has interest in talking about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
There’s a couple of solid reasons why. First of all, despite working tirelessly on the reshoots for “Rogue One,” Gilroy recently admitted that he isn’t much of a “Star Wars” fan. Plus, because Gareth Edwards is officially the film’s director, Gilroy isn’t sure exactly what he can reveal about his work on the blockbuster, and he obviously doesn’t want to offend anyone, too.
Gilroy made that clear when I spoke to him over the phone about his recent film “Beirut” on Monday afternoon. I only had one question regarding “Rogue One,” though, as I wanted to know if he had spoken to the British director about the film.
“I’m not really going to get into that,” Gilroy responded. “I really like Gareth. Gareth and I were both in a really difficult situation. I really like him. As I said, I stumbled onto this topic with Brian Koppelman, there were no a**holes on that movie. This was not the kind of thing; I have no trouble with Gareth. But I have not spoken to him.”
Gilroy briefly touched upon his involvement in “Rogue One” earlier in our chat, too. When we were discussing his reputation in Hollywood I mentioned that he is clearly well regarded because of his ability to come in and fix a film, just like he did with “Rogue One.”
“It is a common solve for the movie if the person coming in really has an objective, wide-angled view on what is going on,” Gilroy explained. “It is very difficult for the people most involved in it to see what is going on.”
“If you have a script that is not working, you are sometimes so deep inside of it that when you give it to a friend or colleague they immediately go, ‘Oh God, dude, come on. This is the problem right here.’ It is sometimes very easy to see from 30,000 feet what the people on the ground cannot.”
For Gilroy, though, “Rogue One” and “Star Wars” are now firmly in the past, and his immediate future is all about “Beirut,” which is out on April 11.
